The Decision to Leave Public Accounting; Some Things Never Change

• In Event: Corporate Social Responsibility and Related Issues

Abstract

Why do men and women leave their first public accounting firm? This paper reports the results of a survey of accounting professionals who graduated from a single university during a fifteen year period from 1996 to 2010. Almer et al. (2005) presents a theoretical framework that identifies what auditors contribute to and receive from their firms. While the framework is not offered as an explanation for turnover, one can argue that an accounting professional leaves a firm when he or she perceives that the value received from employment is insufficient. Our results tend to support this model. Working conditions continue to affect women’s decisions to leave Big 4 accounting firms, but not other public firms. Men are more likely to cite better pay, regardless of the type of firm

Authors

• Susan Carol Borkowski, LaSalle University

• Mary Jeanne Welsh, La Salle University